On January 12, NASA astronaut Don Pettit on the International Space Station sent an image of the comet … [+]
A comet that hasn’t been in the inner solar system for about 180,000 years and isn’t likely to be seen again for 600,000 years is suddenly visible after sunset — but only if you know where to look.
C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)—also known as Comet G3—is potentially the brightest comet of 2025.
The first comet from orbit
NASA astronaut Don Pettit on the International Space Station sent a striking image of the comet (above) as it appeared through the window of a SpaceX Dragon capsule attached to the orbital space observatory. “It’s totally amazing to see a comet from orbit,” he wrote on Instagram. “Atlas C2024-G3 is paying us a visit.” Russian cosmonaut Ivan Wagner photographed the comet a few days ago.
There have also been spectacular images from the ground, notably by astrophotographer Petr Horálek in Slovakia. “The comet was visible even to the naked eye,” he wrote on Instagram.
What is Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)?
An unusually long comet due to its highly elongated orbit, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) likely comes from the Oort Cloud, a sphere of comets around the solar system. arrived perihelion – its closest point to the sun – on January 13, 2025. Amazingly, it survived despite being only 8.3 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) away.
That’s less than a third of Mercury’s average distance from the sun, though it still can’t rival NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which, on December 24, 2024, survived getting just 3.86 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) from the surface of the sun.
However, it is not expected to return for hundreds of thousands of years, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose calculations show that gravitational interactions will increase its time away from the sun to approximately 600,000 years.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) came so close to the sun that it “photobombed” it in NASA’s eyes. … [+]
Where is the comet?
Having suddenly survived the intense heat and gravitational forces, the comet is now visible in the evening sky. It is now in the constellation Capricornus and about 91 million miles (146 million kilometers) from Earth, according to TheSkyLive.com.
“The comet just crossed the evening sky on January 14th and will stay alone until January 20th or so,” wrote Bob King in the. The sky and the telescope. “It then dips back below the horizon, where Southern Hemisphere skywatchers will have the best viewing conditions for the remainder of its display.”
How to see the comet
This comet is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, where it shines at magnitude +1.8, high enough above the horizon to be easily seen. To see the comet tonight from the northern hemisphere, you’ll need a dark sky away from light pollution, a low western horizon and a pair of binoculars, and be outside looking at the sunset just after sunset where you are.
The further south you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the better your chances are.
On January 14, the King in The sky and the telescope used a pair of 10×50 binoculars to find the comet, first focusing on the bright planet Venus before it disappeared within a few degrees of the horizon. “18 minutes after sunset, a bright white dot jumped out of the sea of dark ‘floaters’ that moved across my field of vision,” he reported.
Where to see the comet from your location
If you want to know exactly where to see the comet tonight from your location, use Stellarium Web. This online planetarium in the browser allows you to determine exactly where the comet is located. It’s even marked, by default, on its virtual sky map.
This comet was discovered in April 2024 by NASA’s Ground Impact Early Warning System, which searches for near-Earth objects.
What will happen to the comet?
Although originally predicted to become as bright as Venus – which currently shines brightly in the west after sunset – the future of comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is uncertain. “If I go by the forecast, the comet’s magnitude will drop from -2.5 now to maybe +3 or fainter within a week,” Nick James at the British Astronomical Society told SpaceWeather.com. “It’s quite difficult to predict how the comet will behave after its near-death encounter with the sun, so it could be much brighter or dimmer than our predictions.”
I wish you clear skies and open eyes.
